The annual speech on 29 May is regarded as the country’s informal state of the nation address. (Note: A parliamentary bill to compel presidents to periodically address Nigerians on the state of the nation was vetoed by former President Goodluck Jonathan.)

In his speech, Osinbajo gave an account of the government’s efforts over the past 2 years in delivering on promises made to Nigerians.

“We also know that this journey will of necessity take time,” he told Nigerians in a national broadcast. “But we will not succumb to the temptation to take short-cuts that ultimately complicate the journey. We did not find ourselves in crises overnight, and we simply do not expect overnight solutions to our challenges.”

We zeroed in on 3 claims Osinbajo made about an increase in sovereign savings, a drop in rice imports and the size of infrastructure spend.

Claim

“We have in the last 2 years added US$500 million to our sovereign wealth fund.”

Verdict

unproven

The acting president said efforts by the All Progressive Congress-led government in curbing corruption and plugging leakages have saved the country billions of naira to save for a rainy day.

“We have taken very seriously our promise to save and invest for the future, even against the backdrop of our revenue challenges, and we have in the last two years added US$500 million to our sovereign wealth fund,” he said in the broadcast.

Part of the increase was due to an allocation of US$250 million (about N76.3 billion) by the present administration, which reflected in February 2016.

In February 2017, another US$250 million wasreportedly added to the fund. However, an insider claimed it was drawn from the excess crude account, another government savings fund. (Note: The excess crude account was created in 2004 to help fund subsequent budget deficits and shield the country’s economy from external shocks.)

We asked the office of the acting president for proof of the payments but Laolu Akande, Osinbajo’s media liaison, is yet to get back to us.

Claim

“I am delighted to note that since 2015 our imports of rice have dropped by 90%.”

Verdict

incorrect

Nigeria consumes more rice than any African country and is one of thebiggest producers and importers of the grain on the continent, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.

In 2015, the Nigerian government introduced a borrowing programme to stimulate local rice production while reducing the country’s food import bills. To help achieve this, the Central Bank of Nigeria imposed import restrictions on rice.

Still, none of the 3 international databases Africa Check consulted showed that the programme or import restrictions had an effect of significantly lowering rice imports.

Claim

Verdict

unproven

To stimulate economic recovery, the acting president said the Nigerian government would continue to spend on infrastructure, claiming that the large spend in 2016 marked “another milestone in the history of this country”.

This adds up to half of the funds budgeted for infrastructure, with spending on agriculture, water resources, education and health projects taking the total to 62%.

Due to the late passage of the 2016 budget, two-thirds of it is yet to be spent (N4 trillion of N6.06 trillion), Moses Tule, the director of monetary policy at the Central Bank of Nigeria said in an interview in May 2017.

In Nigeria, there is a clear difference between what was budgeted for something, what was eventually spent on it and if it was achieved, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the executive director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on anti-corruption, economic and social rights, told Africa Check.

“The next question for the acting president is to give a breakdown of what infrastructure has that money been spent on so that we can now do a follow up as to where those infrastructure [projects] are. It is not sufficient that such claim be made.”

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We hold public figures accountable

For democracy to function, public figures need to be held to account for what they say. The claims they make need to be checked, openly and impartially. Africa Check is an independent, non-partisan organisation which assesses claims made in the public arena using journalistic skills and evidence drawn from the latest online tools, readers, public sources and experts, sorting fact from fiction and publishing the results.